Raúl Rubio on Cuban material culture

Monday, May 19, 2014 4–5:30 p.m.

Professor Rubio will offer an overview of his research on Cuban material culture, which examines a wide-range of artifacts, from cultural commodities to the museum archive. His talk will focus on the popularity of “things Cuban,” which he argues thrive because of the proliferation of addictions to fantasies associated with representing Cuba and consuming Cuban identity, given the historical positionality of the island. These fantasies are created by multiple sources, including Cubans themselves, inclusive of the Cuban diaspora, and also global sources, who have fetishized both the nation and nationality. Professor Rubio’s presentation will engage in the analysis of the aesthetic realms found in print, photography, social media, museums, and Cuban-oriented objects at-large.

Raúl Rubio is Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Literature at John Jay College of the City University of New York (CUNY). A Hispanist and cultural studies scholar, his research is grounded in the emerging interdisciplinary field of material culture, which examines a wide-range of artifacts, from cultural commodities to the museum archive.

Professor Rubio’s book La Habana: cartografías culturales was published in 2013 by the Aduana Vieja press of Spain. The book examines the worldwide fascination with Cuba and things Cuban during the last century, particularly envisioning how the city of Havana, is more than a scenic backdrop, having become the nation’s most visible protagonist and its foremost player, perhaps second only to Fidel Castro. His publications have appeared in numerous academic journals, including: Studies in Latin American Popular Culture (U. of Texas Press), Letras Hispanas, CiberLetras, Espéculo: revista de estudios literarios (Spain), Caribe: revista de literatura y cultura, and in the books Cuba: Idea of a Nation Displaced (SUNY Press, 2007), Narratología y discursos multiples (Editorial Dunken, 2013), Living with Class: Philosophical Reflections on Identity and Material Cultures (Palgrave, 2013).